living the dream or reality? life happens more than On Any Sunday

To a lot of younger riders I meet today, I am just the old guy who has ridden a million miles and who thinks he has seen it all.  But still each ride shows me something new, just like it does for them.  They fail to look at it through my eyes, as I was once where they were, and the dreams of riding places, meeting people, having a fast bike, with all the goodies was once my dream too.  But looking back my reality has been much better than my dreams, only God can do that, and today the reality of life keeps me still dreaming.  There are still more roads, more bikes to ride, and less time now to do it all in.  But one trip back to Cycle Guide magazine, the May of 1980 issue reminds me of how far we have come, how far I have been, how far I still have to go, and rekindles the old dreams again.  The bottom line is I want to get out and ride more, and last week an 1800 mile ride confirmed that.  Back in 1980, that was still a dream....

I owned a 1981 KZ750 like the one on the cover, a superbike at the time, lightweight and running a 12.50 quarter mile.  Bragging rights if you will.  All for $2749 1980 dollars.  The ads again made me think of the dreams, a Windjammer fairing for touring, a big deal back then, as any bike was a touring bike when you added one.  Ads for Alphabet, Hooker, Kerker, Yoshimura, and Jardine headers.  Kawasaki bragging on bringing fuel injection to two wheels, the Vetter Mystery ship revealed on page 36, never saw one on the road.  An article rating motorcycle movies, giving The Wild One only two helmets, we were years away from Harley rewriting marketing and making us all want to be bad.  Bikers were yet to be born for the mainstream rider.  At least Easy Rider and On Any Sunday gained 4 stars!  CHiPs was still prime time, Fonzi rode a Triumph, so did James Brolin on Marcus Welby, MD. and Evel Knievel wasn’t evil, just a fad.  An article on tires never mentioned radials, still 20 years away from everyday use.  Names like Roberts, Springsteen, and Eklund raced at the Astrodome, on the dirt.  Porsche was developing a motor for Harley Davidson, they were still owned by AMF, the Japanese owned motorcycling, BMW’s meant touring, and it was all new and exciting.  The common bond was we all rode, and the breakdown of types of rides was still far away.  Today it divides us, when we need to go back and remember when the fact we rode was more important than what we rode.  And each month we waited for the next issues of Cycle, Cycle Guide, Cycle World, and Road Rider to keep us dreaming.  Only Cycle World remains today....but it seems we have lost more than just the publications, we have lost the brotherhood and dreams it once met.  Now we see groups of Harley riders, Indian riders, Wing nuts or ADV riders, back then I had a Kawi, David rode a Yamaha, Brett and George rode Hondas, and we all got along.  Sadly no one rode BSA’s, Indians, or Triumphs any more, but Triumph would be back, and so is Indian.  The dreams were rekindled and kept alive, maybe this is the good old days after all. 

One thing we needed then, and still do today is we need each other.  Works for riding, it also works for the body of Christ.  Jesus taught us two things in the New Testament, you cannot say “I don’t need you,” and the second is “you don’t need me.”  God set us up as a body who needs each other, and when we realize that, the church, us becomes a vital, living, breathing, and growing body.  We all play a part in God’s kingdom, and none of us should be set apart from it.  Today as always, the ministry of the church belongs to the whole congregation, not just the pastors and staff.  Each one of us is called to be an ambassador of Christ, to bring light and hope into the dark world, to be the Bible they may never read, to be the one who goes out to them, like Jesus did to us.  Inviting someone to church is not evangelism, yet church habits over the years have taught us the pastors are the only ones who can counsel, they are the only ones who can teach, and minister to the hurting.  These are not signs of a healthy church, yet it is talked about, many times from a man hiding behind a pulpit who couldn’t get out and do it, so he doesn’t encourage his flock.  God has given us the privilege of going out and being sharing the gospel wherever we are.  Mention the church, and we think of the building, not those in it.  Jesus saw it differently, and still does.

If your church does not encourage you, it is lacking and may be sick spiritually.  That ought to annoy many, but when we each get out and start to minister, like mentioned in Matthew 25, life becomes exciting, worthwhile,and we see the holy spirit in action.  Life takes on a new insight, as we represent Jesus Christ and not the church.  Do not confuse the two, we need to be guided by the spirit, and should be encouraged from our pastors and his staff.  If not....it has become more important of what we ride than the fact we ride.  The brotherhood we should share becomes splintered, and soon we lose the desire.  Maybe a trip through 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 will give you insight, but then it is up to you as to ride or not, to serve Jesus or not, or be stuck in church wondering what all the excitement is about.  We need each other, but we need the holy spirit to bind us together, to give us the dreams and see them into reality.  In my wildest dreams I never thought I would ride press bikes for Triumph, or ride over 1 million miles, but I do both, and still get excited.  I never thought I would teach Bible concepts and minster to the poor, indigent, and those in jail.  But God did and his spirit inspired me and still does today.  I could not imagine not doing either.  Many cannot see me doing either!   But in Christ-WOW!

The gift of ministry belongs to all who are saved.  We need each other, as I was reminded again when we got back.  I needed a bed, someone called with one.  We need clothes, a couple who has a ministry to the poor supplies all we need.  A large church who distributes food supplies it for us, we get to see those hungry being fed, those naked being clothed, and Jesus at work.  And see them now getting out and doing the same for others, encouraging those who need it, see the Bible come alive, experiencing Jesus, not just learning about him.  Their reality surpassing any dreams they might have had.  Only Jesus can do that!

God has not forgotten about you, have you forgotten about him?  In 1980 motorcycling was different, have we changed or did it?  Still dreaming when you could be out riding?  If your life was a training film for motorcycling, would you watch it?  Would it make you want to ride?  The ads of our youth did, now ask yourself about Jesus, and a movie of him in your life.  What does it tell others?  Would you watch it?  Would it make anyone who did want Jesus?  You cannot teach experience, you can teach about Jesus, but there is nothing like his experience.  Jimi Hendrix once asked “have you ever been  experienced?”  Well have you?  Well, I have.....and the education will never compare to the application.  Or the experience.  Living the dream?  There is nothing like the reality of Christ in your life.  Your ministry is just waiting to begin!

love with compassion,

Mike

mattehw25biker.blogspot.com

if bad is so good, why don't you like being caught?

I just spent three days with a hybrid for the third time, a loaner car, a Ford C-Max.  I believe and still believe a Prius is the quickest way to give up your manhood, but I am softening on hybrids.  Still not a believer.  Electric motors mean instant full power, they are quick and use less gas.  But they also come wrapped in some ugly bodies, and the C-Max is no exception.  If it was sporty like our Mustang I might be interested, a $125,000 Tesla is vastly overpriced, but someday I too may be coerced into one of these golf carts disguised as an automobile, but for now, give me the good old Otto four cycle engine.  The clincher to any romance came when a friend saw me in it and said “is that your car?”  And I had no place to hide...no, it’s just a loaner....but it’s not too bad...and the excuses begin.

England recently passed a law outlawing new gasoline powered motorcycles in 2040.  I can just hear my grandson who will be in his twenties then, “in the old days my grandpa used to ride a gas engine, boy he must be old.”  I’ll be in my eighties, and still riding if I can lift a leg over the seat, even if I need assistance doing it.  So hybrids have a future, may not function as bad as they look, and may not drain us of all our manhood, call me old school, or really just school, but internal combustion is still the way for me.

I still look at hybrids like I do hybrid Christians, as mugwumps.  A mugwump is double minded, sitting on both sides of the fence on issues, his mug on one side, his wump on the other.  Hybrids may be OK in cars, coming to motorcycles, but have no place in a Christian’s life.  James tells us “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  Dangerously walking both sides of the fence on issues, his heart not following God, but popular culture, church direction, or his own ways.  We are told you cannot serve both God and mammon-money, that we will forsake one and worship the other, we all can look back to when money left us down when we chose it over God.  Jesus warns us in Revelation that “because we are not hot or cold but lukewarm, he will vomit us out of his mouth.”  It made him sick.  Hybrid theology, take the truth, and change it to make excuses for our sin.  We see these hybrid theologies in prosperity movements, name it and claim it, those who deny the deity of Jesus, and some who just want to make everyone happy, like those sickening bumper stickers, or Rodney King’s plea of “can’t we all just get along?”  No, sin will always separate us from God, and Jesus will only be the only way back.  So churches move away from the Bible, deny the spirit, and allow their flocks to live like hell, never telling them there is a hell, that might upset them, cause them distress, or make them seek religion elsewhere.  We don’t need religion, we need Jesus!

So maybe we need to ask ourselves, “why do we sin?”  Probably because it is fun, and we don’t like to do things that aren’t fun.  We feed the flesh, discount the spirit, and soon live a confused life.  A house divided cannot stand, nor can darkness with light.  It must flee when it is exposed, and our sin is exposed not by God, but by us.  God doesn’t send anyone to hell, it is our decision, and a hybrid Christian is really saying no to Jesus.  Running on one spirit when he can be running on the holy spirit, who needs no backup or substitute.  But unlike most hybrids, sin comes wrapped in an attractive body, promises physical delights, and leaves a footprint we cannot see, many times until it is too late.  Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals.  And the first time you think it cannot happen to you, you have lost, given into pride.  And the alternative spirit has taken over, subtly, but it is there.  So what to do?

We don’t need a higher power, we need Jesus, and his spirit he left with us.  We need to repent, turn to him and let the spirit guide us.  The spirit comforts, the law causes pain.  The spirit gives wisdom, the world cause dissention, whereas the spirit unites us with Christ.  We cannot have both, saying yes to one is saying no to the other.  Saying no to Jesus condemns us, saying yes saves us.  Can I make it any easier to understand?

So maybe we need to step back and do a quick evaluation to see who powers us.  At first it will hurt your pride, good, and point us to Jesus.  Then knowing the truth, we can be set free, or fall back on alternative power.  But as for me and my house, we will choose the Lord.  For just as there is no substitute for cubic inches or replacement for displacement, there is no substitute for Jesus.  Anything else cannot deliver what he promises.  While some get excited about his walking on the water, I get more excited about his resurrection.  I will to be resurrected someday.  But may never walk on water unless it is frozen into ice.  I may be softening on hybrids, never soften on the holy spirit, it was him who called you to Christ, and out of darkness, why settle for anything less?  A double powered car may be OK, but a Christian should never be.  These things shall follow them that believe, what comes out of your tailpipe tells us a lot about your God.  Life is more than who charges your batteries, so go with all the power you can get, and his spirit too.  If bad is so good, why don’t you like getting caught?

Think about it, if Prius made a motorcycle, would you ride it?  I rest my case.

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

even as kids we knew better

From the ages of 5-12 in our neighborhood kickball ruled.  It was the standard by which you were known, either to be a captain or called last when choosing teams.  And even though we played it at school, the rules were different at home on our street.  We had no playground outside of the school, so the street was it, which made for some interesting ground rules.  Manhole covers were home plate, sewer drains the bases, and telephone poles marked the out of bounds.  At the end of our street was a big circle, using Richie’s fence as the foul pole, and a telephone pole for the left field line.  In between if you could reach it, over the curb was a home run.  Careful not to get in Crawford’s yard, he would keep the ball and game over.  Further down the street we had to keep the ball in bounds, yards were out, and the same in front of my house, except we used filled in potholes for bases.  We all knew the rules, we didn’t cheat because we didn’t want to get caught, kickball ruled.  But just one street up, were even more ground rules, as a telephone pole was first base, second base a long run to the manhole, and third base the end of the fence.  We played, kept inside the rules, and had fun.  Imagine that!

Football season brought new challenges, as we came up with a new set of rules, anything off the pavement was out of bounds, and where three completions got you a first down anywhere else, we used lines of demarcation for first downs, the end of the fence, Corriss’s driveway, and an old tree.  With telephone poles the imaginary goal line.  Many a measurement was eyeballed for a first down, and rather than argue, we had the option of calling do-over.  Running bases on pavement made it interesting, with short distances and longer ones based on how far the manhole cavers were apart.  We quickly learned the shorter ones were more fun.

Rarely did we use yards, but for wiffle ball Scottie’s back yard ruled, and for tackle it did too, and when combined with the neighbor’s yard in this age of no fences, it made for some long touchdown runs.  We had few rules, we played to have fun and win, and without parental interference, or too many rules, we had fun.  We were kids.....and then we grew up.  Why did we ever do that?

When Barney Fife told us the Mayberry Jail rules on a tour, “the first rule is to obey all rules,”  maybe we should have stopped there.  But with more rules, there are more rules to remember, and more rules to break.  Even the NFL, that supreme being of rules, has trouble defining what is a catch and what isn’t.  On the street we knew, you dropped it, it wasn’t.  But with rules come more rules, and with more rules, our sin gets a bigger chance to show off.  The Pharisees were well known for having a sense of righteousness by keeping all the Mosaic laws, over 600 of them.  How to wash to eat, after you bumped into an infidel.  How to show off when giving, how to do this or that.  A rigid lifestyle devoid of joy, because someone was always watching and ready to pounce on you if you failed.  A great example of no freedom in legalism, which we all fall into from time to time.  In society we need rules because we aren’t as smart as we were as kids playing kickball, so some live by the Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses on tablets of stone.  Six for dealing with man, four for dealing with God, we should have seen then it was easier to deal with God.  But the TC as great as they were and are, have no salvation in them.  No way to be forgiven, they just tell us how to live, not what to do when we screw up.   It was up to judges to interpret, and even instant replay hasn’t made it any easier.  So God sent his son, Jesus...

Who gave us an easy law, so simple we can remember it.  Love God first, then your brother as yourself.  We all screw up, the only prerequisite for mercy, and he offers it.  He forgives, and we are to forgive others as he does.  But who is my brother?  Or how many times do I forgive?  Anyone you meet qualifies to be forgiven, and Peter learned that being forgiven 70x7 still is not enough.  God forgives all, we should too, with no reservations.  But this love part can mess up the sequence...and it does.  If we are to love others as ourselves, we need to love ourselves, and outside of Jesus we cannot.  And the key to that love is forgiveness.  We love being forgiven by Jesus, we forgive others, but we have a problem forgiving ourselves, so we cannot love ourself, and we cannot love others as we should.  Jesus set the example, so simple, yet we make rules, laws, legends, religious dogma, and denominational rules that make it hard.  Isn’t following Jesus much easier?

Even as kids playing ball we knew the rules, and kept it simple.  If it worked for kickball, why can’t it work in life?  Maybe just trying to forgive, to accept a do over, a way of forgiveness, to play to win, but realizing that tomorrow is another game, win or lose.  Everyday we chose up new teams, today sign on with Jesus.  Play ball within the lines not because you have to, but because you want to.  Play to win, fairly, be a gracious loser and winner, and treat others as you want to be treated.  Simple then, simple now.  We knew which neighbor and yards to avoid then, we do now too.  Play and live in grace, and enjoy the game of life more.  Know the out of bounds, where the bases are, and have fun.  For what good is fun if you don’t enjoy it?  Maybe that is why Jesus told us to come as little kids to him.  We got it then, but lost it as adults.  There may not be a fountain of youth, and we may get older, we don’t have to get old and grow up.  Kickball was more than a game then....I’m glad I know that now.  Back then, we were just having fun....

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com

one afternoon in the ER

In the beginning was med school.  They got the education, worked on corpses, and maybe interned working with real live patients.  They graduated from med school, interned, passed the state board test and were officially doctors.  They had the education, knew all the latest techniques, and then they come face to face with a patient.  And their medical experience begins.  We get to see what they have learned applied to a real life experience.  Which reminds me of the old joke, “what do you call the person who graduates last in his medical class?”  The answer, “doctor.”  Which I was reminded of last week on my visit to the ER for a bee sting, of which I am highly allergic.  After the EMT’s settled me, funny how one chest scar from open heart surgery makes them think you aren’t healthy, “I wasn’t before the surgery, I am now,” I assured them.  Then why are we here?  “Dude, I was stung by a bee!”

After the ER nurse asked me all the questions, got an IV going, and told me the doctor will be in to see me, a very young doctor, accompanied by an intern to take notes walked in.  With all the confidence a young graduate can muster, he began describing my condition to her in medical terms, some I understand.  Then he looked at my arms, my left arm in particular, which was heavily bruised, and marked.  Going off on some tangent about reactions and meds needed, I stopped him.  He observed, he never questioned them, school had taught him what they were, unfortunately he didn’t have a course in riding a motorcycle in a hail storm, which I had a few weeks earlier.  The wind blowing so hard it was perpendicular to the road, hitting me directly on the left arm, bruising me even through my rain suit.  They were bruises from riding in a hail storm, not some disease, and his bubble was burst.  He quickly turned his attention to the blushing intern, who smiled at me, at he told her to leave, told me the nurse would finish up with me, and he was gone. From the the young lady intern’s face she had seen this before, her experience with him gave her more insight to my medical problem than he might have had.  He never asked me about them, just pronounced sentence on my arm, all based on a med school education. He still had to learn experience, what he may learn from it is up to him.  He left quickly and I never got a chance to thank him, nor ask about his class ranking.....I had been stung in the face, and he never looked there.....

The problem with trying to understand everything is you will be faced with a new situation you may not understand, and try to compare it to one you have.  Proverbs 3:5, a popular scripture everywhere, tells us to lean not on our own understanding.  Just like the doctor did.  We think that if only we understood the situation, if God explained in detail why we were going through what we were going through, then we would get it, and deal with it better.  We try to put ourselves on the same wavelength as God, many times so we can only argue with him, or suggest a better way, as if now that we understand, he doesn’t.  We think we will find peace and security in our understanding, yet it is fleeting, and only lasts until the next misunderstanding, and then it must be God’s fault, never ours.  We think we finally have this Jesus thing figured out, and God reminds us that we don’t, and how much we need his holy spirit to guide us.  But also in the same Proverb, he gives us the answer, one we must participate in, which causes us to consider the things of God and make a choice.  He tells us to trust him in all our ways, with all our heart.  Trust, the one thing standing between the relationship with God we desire, the thing we tell others they need to do, but we do not do ourselves.  Trust.....and he will guide your paths.  Now do you understand?

Years ago I asked God why he doesn’t reveal his perfect plan for our lives.  His answer was simple, “because you would argue.”  I don’t want to go there, do that, interrupt my career.  I don’t want to live there, I don’t  like those people, they don’t like me.  What are you thinking God, and we would tell him where he was wrong, correct him, and give him a better plan.  Never trusting, but always knowing better than the one who created us and controls everything.  While so many claim prayer is the answer, I know the one who answers is the real answer.  There is a difference....

The peace that surpasses words and the sense of security we find in it does not depend on situations, only on the one who controls them.  We do not look ahead but are allowed to look back and see how God has things worked out ahead of time, so he gets the glory, and it works out for our benefit.  When we quit trying to understand, we do not misdiagnose, we do not jump to conclusions, and we do not fear.  We trust, and with each experience we trust him more and more.  We seek the spirit, we listen to him, and obey, because we know his voice,and he can be trusted.  I trusted the doctor, but only so far, I trusted he knew what he was doing.  Better yet to trust the one who really does, who is guiding the circumstances we are in.  The one who knows what he is doing, who never panics in a panic situation, and not only promises peace, but delivers it.  Maybe that is why doctors practice medicine, and why we need the holy spirit in our lives daily.  When we trust the one who  holds the future, we find life is worth the living, just because he lives.  When the one who tells us “to be of good cheer because he has overcome the world,” do we trust or understand? 

One hail storm or one bee sting can be an eye opener, or an eye closer.  We say we trust the Lord, and we do, until that part about “in all your ways acknowledge him,”  that’s a toughie.  Education can train us, but the application helps us trust.  Jesus must be experienced, not just learned about.  I hope my visit taught the doctor something he didn’t learn in med school.  He left before I could ask him any other questions.  And one every med school grad should know.  What is the difference between an oral and a rectal thermometer?

The flavor of course.  Trust me on that one....and no not by experience either.  Now do you understand?

love with compassion,

Mike

matthew25biker.blogspot.com